At a Picnic Table Full of Nails and Screws
Disclaimer- I don't down any of the KH characters, nor Tidus, nor do I own a picnic table full of nails and screws.
At a picnic table full of nails and screws, Riku watched (from a safe distance) as Sora sat on the swing. The chains creaked and moaned like zombies awakening from their graves as Sora gently rocked forward and back, waiting ever so patiently.
What was he waiting for? For almost two months, Riku sat at this exact same spot, watching as Sora came and went. But never did Riku summon enough courage to talk to the boy.
Because Sora always seemed to be in the middle of something.
The first time RIku saw him, Sora was having a picnic with a few of his friends; a week later, he was out playing with his dog, and then just last week, Sora was doing community service, picking up piles of litter from underneath the rusted bridge with the community clean-up crew. Today was the best chance Riku had to finally talk to the boy, and ultimately (just maybe) win his heart.
Carefully, Riku stood up. He dusted his pants twice, pounding away the presence of dust that might have settled on his black Dickies, then he ran his fingers through his silver hair before finally deciding to take a step. And then another. Then another.
Everything was going swell; Sora hadn't noticed him yet and there was no one at the park to distract Sora or ruin Riku's chance of making his move, his very first move. Riku swallowed the thick lump that had clogged itself in his throat. Never before had Riku done something as bold as this. Then again, there had never been someone like Sora, someone who Riku was dying to meet. Whenever Sora walked past him, whether it was to pick up trash, or the yellow chew toy his dog had blindly missed, Riku's senses went on overdrive as he inhaled the other boy's sweet scent, the smell of fresh cleanness temporarily paralyzing him. It was like love at first sight, and the impulse to just grab Sora and take him on the picnic table was slowly eating away at Riku's otherwise rational mind. His thoughts became dirty, his desires stronger, and dammit, all of his dreams were plagued by the brown haired boy, someone who he had barely known.
Almost there.
Step after step led Riku closer to Sora. His heart was thumping so wildly, he could feel it lodging up his throat as his mind scrambled for a pick-up line.
"Hey hot stuff."
No, much too cheesy. Instead of getting Sora's attention, it'd probably scare him off.
"You busy Friday night?"
That was equally as cheesy as the first one! And much too forward. What if Sora didn't like guy's with egos that matched the size of Miyavi's?
"Hello, waiting for someone?"
Too stalker-like.
Riku was just a few inches away from Sora (just close enough to get a whiff of his clean scent), when Sora suddenly sprang up from the swing, bouncing and waving his hand high above his head as he waved to the person in the distance. Unfortunately, Sora was so excited, he was oblivious to the fact that when he jumped off the swing, he sent it flying backwards.The metal contraption swung with full force, aiming towards Riku (who was still lost in thought), still trying to come up with the perfect pick-up line. His reflexes were on vacation and he didn't even notice the swing as it raged towards him, finally hitting him ...
...right on the target.
Riku winced as his body staggered, both his hands went to the zipper of his pants as the painfully throbbing ache between his legs flashed across his mind. He watched Sora call out to Tidus (the boy in the distance) with a pang of jealousy mixed into the pain that vibrated over and over. Getting hit with the swing when he was off guard hurt like running into a pole: it was intense at first, but eventually it dulled out. However, watching Sora run towards the other boy when Riku was in such pain (and embarrassment as the elderly couple stared at him from the park bench) made him hurt even more. Awkwardly, Riku made his way back to his picnic table, the one full of nails and screws. Dammit, a missed chance and a crunch in the nuts.
He watched with envy as Sora ran into the arms of the blond boy, the same boy who had a locker next to him in the boys' locker room at school. Sure, Tidus had a nice body, Riku noticed that whenever they had to change out of their swimming trunks at school, but why would Sora fall for a guy like that? A boy who was such a pushover? What did Tidus have that Riku didn't have?
Not only was it inconceivable to picture Sora liking a boy who was so damn passive, it was down right frustrating to see Sora laughing and giggling as Tidus handed him a box of chocolate, wrapped in such a delicate silk ribbon, it must have been worth bundles of money.
Great, not only was Tidus a pushover, but apparently Sora would be lavished with top-of-the-line gifts.
Cursing, Riku kicked the round pebble that lay by his feet. He cursed the (unintentional) physical pain that Sora had caused him, he cursed the emotional heartbreak that he was now enduring; he cursed the wrong timing, and everything in sight from the elderly couple who stared at him to the damn swing for obeying the laws of physics and hitting him I down there /I .
Nearly collapsing into a pile of angst ridden grief over the misfortunes of the day, Riku became unaware of the sounds of footsteps trotting up to him. It had completely caught him off guard when Sora suddenly appeared at his side, offering him the same box of chocolates that Tidus had given to him only moments before.
"Hi, I'm Sora." The boy smiled meekly as he pushed the box of chocolates towards Riku with his lithe arm. Then he sat down opposite of Riku, watching Riku's expressionless face as he stared at the box of chocolates.
There was a lump the size of Titanic lodged up in Riku's throat, nearly preventing him from saying anything intelligible. It was almost a miracle that he somehow managed to say something back.
"I'm Riku, nice to meet you."
After weeks of silently stalking Sora (though Riku wouldn't call it 'stalking' per se, but rather, observing), there he was actually giving him a box of chocolates!
"I know. Umm..." Sora's face turned bright red as he averted his eyes from Riku's daunting gaze, focusing instead on the numerous nails and screws embedded into the wooden picnic table. Inside Riku's mind, everything went haywire.
'Why isn't he looking at me?' Riku thought, his toes now tapping obsessively underneath the table, gathering dust and dirt inside his shoe as he panicked again, 'Is there something in my teeth? Or is it my breath? Oh crap, it's not from the lunch I had earlier, is it? Because I swear that piece of garlic bread was begging me to eat it. Look at me, Sora, what's wrong? Did I do something? Do I smell? OH FUCKING SHIT, I forgot to put on deodorant today!'
"I heard..." Sora started, his eyes still looking away from Riku, "from Tifa, who's friends with my cousin Tidus, that you really like chocolates. And I really want to get to know you better, so I've been kind of, sort of watching you at this park and you were always doing something, like reading or writing something, so I thought you were busy and that's why I didn't do this sooner, but I really, really like you and--"
Sora stopped for a pause, closing his eyes shut as he inhaled a deep breath before releasing the rest of his grammatically incorrect sentence.
"--I was wondering if you'd like to catch a movie together on Friday at 8, at the theater two blocks away from the bookstore, but it's okay if you don't want to go seeing how this is kind of weird because I'm a guy asking you out and you're obviously a guy, unless you secretly have really flat breasts underneath that shirt of yours, but if you don't, that's okay because I still like you anyway-"
"Sure."
Sora looked up, finally ripping his focus away from the screws and nails to finally look Riku in the eyes for the first time.
Did this really happen? Is it really happening? Riku felt giddy as his mind registered Sora's gawky confession, Was sora, the boy that he had been obsessing over, actually asking him out? Did Sora also just confess to going to the park, just to see Riku?
I OmgthisbetternotbeadreamorelseI'lldie. /I
Sora smiled jovially, his face lighting up like a little boy. "Okay, See you then!" The boy quickly leaned over the table to give Riku a speedy little kiss, and though it lasted a mere two seconds, Riku felt tingles trailing down his spine.
But before Sora could fully pull away, Riku pulled on his red shirt and gave him a second kiss. With his lips pressed tightly on Sora's, Riku savored the moment that he had only envisioned so many times before.
And all of this happened at the picnic table full of mails and screws, where Riku used to stare after Sora.
Notes: If I can get off my lazy bum fast enough, I should be able to give this one another chapter before July ends. This one was written for Phackie.